When service personnel, such as police, delivery people, or technicians, interact with enterprise clients, it is often very difficult for a client to determine whether the service person is who he or she purports to be. Traditionally, badges and/or identification (ID) cards are used, each of which may include a logo, a badge number, name, picture, and the like to provide a modicum of authenticity to the client. While such identification is useful, it is subject to problems. For example, when an unmarked vehicle with flashing lights stops another vehicle and a driver is later presented with a badge or an ID card, there is no way of knowing whether the individual behind the badge is truly a police officer. Indeed, a lost or stolen security badge could easily be altered to include an alternate picture. Similarly, badges or ID cards could be forged to resemble their authentic counterparts.
Even if some of the identity information is stored electronically in the security badge as a security token, an individual confronted with such a security badge typically does not have a way to read the information and/or to authenticate the information in the security token.
Hence, a need exists for systems and methods to electronically read a security token associated with a security badge and to verify that the person behind the badge is who he or she purports to be.